Gateways to Progression

Gateways to Progression

Progression is the goal. Always improving, some times in greater increments than others, but always learning a little something and avoiding any long plateaus. It makes things fun, builds confidence and self esteem, and opens up greater possibilities for future success. So how do we progress?

First you need to simply enjoy what you're doing. It can't be a chore. It has to be something you love. Did you ever look at all those x-gamers doing all those flips and twists on all kids of toys. The stuff is pretty impressive but what really impresses me is their love of the sport. I mean these dudes and dudettes will literally die for it. They work hard yeah, but not exactly, because it isn't work at all. It's play, and if they "play" hard enough and become good enough, they might even pick up a paycheck here or there. But whatever. They're doing something near and dear to their heart and for that they rejoice. I respect them for that and I can relate.

It also helps to have the right tools. The boats are already there for you and all you need is a little gear to make the going a bit easy for you. Another tool you have is your coaches, your team mates, your partner, and yourself. Use all these coaching tools you have and the whole team benefits.

Sailors have to individually dissect their current skills and identify strengths and weaknesses. You also need to understand your likes and dislikes as it relates to your current ability. I hope I can help you out with both identification and application. But help me help you. That is, keep the lines of communication flowing.
Often a sailor practices what they like, what they're good at. More often this is a less successful approach. Of course, they don't mind because they feel like they're having fun all the time. Yeah, but are they effectively improving? Are they missing out on a totally new realm of fun, controlling others and kicking butt on the weekends? You have to work on your weaknesses. You try to to do it in a manner that is fun for you so you have the best of both worlds, efficient training and a happy environment. That's one of the reasons I like that Eric Twinname book so much. It teaches you how to teach yourself and offers various methods to do so to keep things varied, interesting, productive, and hopefully more fun.
Sometimes coaches look at general team deficiencies and work on those areas even if they're not as fun as some other things. And you can bet that not all team members think the same thing is fun. That's why we try to vary things up in practice. However, I think I personally can do that to a fault, trying to keep things interesting by moving things along. It may be more productive in the long run to work on certain skills sets for longer periods of time. But you have to be in tune with that and give it the attention span it needs. In the team's case, our biggest deficiency remains to be the ability to get off the starting line in the front row with clear air (notice the omission of favored end distinction).
We practice the skills but we're not getting them down well enough, especially when it counts in a live regatta. Specifically, we need to have a stronger, more efficient load and flatten to rock and punch off the line at least as well as our neighbors, and we need to be better at our stop and go (the go part) physically and time-wise (pulling the trigger). Besides the physical skills of creating good acceleration across the starting line, there are the mental skills and emotional aspects of being the hammer not the nail. We have to work on those skills too. So, if you've got a good idea of how to make starting skills more fun, shoot away because we're going to be plugging away at this stuff 'til we get it right and enjoy the spoils. Let's find ways to have fun while practicing our weaknesses.


"Condition Sailors"

"Condition" Sailors are those that can only do well in a certain type of wind condition, or in a certain kind of boat, or a certain kind of venue (I.E. steady, flat water). They may be "conditionally challenged" regarding the starting line too, only good at the boat, only good at the pin, only good if there's no one directly beneath. These Condition Sailors have molded their game for what they like and probably spend little time on their weaknesses. They have a great excuse though, "those aren't my conditions". In collegiate sailing, to be blunt, Condition Sailors are losers. Taint no place for that kinda crap in these here watahs.
We must learn the variations in boats and breeze and get it all up to speed. Hey, a tack is a tack and though it's different in different boats but it ain't that different, and we know what the difference is. So practice it. Yes, you sail differently in different breezes but it ain't that different, and we know the difference in the realm from being under-powered to over-powered. So we hope and welcome varied conditions for it gives us more experience and makes us stronger. The sooner we take the boat speed and boat handling issue off the board (because we're as good or better than our competitors), the sooner we more efficiently handle wind diagnostics, route planning and general tactics. So you can get back to the tactical game of taking the breeze to the buoy with minimal disturbance from other boats.
Fast sailors go fast, unless they are limited in their condition range, unless they are hemmed in by other boats disturbing them, unless they point that speed in the wrong the direction, on the wrong tack. Smart sailors are rarely that slow. Smart sailors win.



"Work on Small Pieces"

Twinname says it so well in his book. He uses the analogy of one piano player trying to learn a "piece" all together, from start to stop while another learns only sections at a time but puts it all together in precise chapters. The more difficult areas are fine tuned and when put together, the end result is perfection. Yeah, that's it, let's go do that.




-Coach